South East Asian millers get a dough-by-dough lesson in Aussie wheat for Asian baking

Flour millers in Indonesia and the Philippines learned more about how to get the best out of Aussie wheat for Asian-style bread during April and May 2018.

Following on from similar events in 2014, 2016 and 2017, AEGIC’s wheat experts travelled to Jakarta, Makassar and Manila to conduct technical workshops with local flour millers.

The aim of the 2018 workshops was to demonstrate the functionality of Australian wheat for Asian style bread products using the “Sponge & Dough” baking technique.

Workshop leader Dr Larisa Cato said the workshops demonstrated AEGIC’s commitment to engaging with customers of Australian wheat in Asia to maintain and grow value for Australian growers.

The workshops are part of AEGIC’s “Australian Wheat for Asian Baking” project, which involves researching alternative bread and dough processing systems and demonstrating that Australian wheat makes good quality Asian-style products. The workshops are presented in conjunction with consultant BakeTran.

Dr Cato said most baking in South East Asia was based on Sponge & Dough and long fermentation systems.

“At the moment, North American wheat is currently more preferred in South East Asia,” she said. “The Sponge & Dough method is common in America, and this has led to the same method becoming popular in South East Asia as well.

“If Australia can demonstrate that our wheat is comparable to North American wheats in terms of performance, then we can potentially become more competitive in that space.”

Dr Cato said AEGIC research identified that Australian wheat is well-regarded for noodles and there are opportunities to drive improvements in Australian wheat for baked products.

“There is huge potential for growth in South East Asian wheat consumption, and baking is where that interest is growing fastest.”

The 2018 workshops involved an overview of the quality features of Australian wheat and the relationship between flour quality and bread quality, followed by technical information about the role of enzymes on dough rheology and hands-on baking demonstrations.

Dr Cato said attendees found the sessions very valuable.

“The flour millers who participated gave us great feedback again and are definitely hungry for more training on how to best use Australian wheat in their products.”

One miller commented that the most valuable part of the workshop “…was the activity itself (baking) and the discussion of the effects of different enzymes.”

Another miller said “…the best part is when we make use of models / concepts to evaluate the finished product (bread).”

Background: different baking methods

Bread is manufactured using different methods around the world. There are four common bread making processes: Long Fermentation; No Time Dough, Sponge & Dough and Mechanical Dough Development (better known as the Chorleywood bread making process).

Bread recipes around the world change quite dramatically too. Australian bread generally has next to no sugar and contains very little fat, while the sugar/fat percentage of Asian-style bread can reach as high as 25% of the dry flour weight

What is Sponge & Dough?

There are two stages in the Sponge & Dough bread process. First, an airy “sponge” is created using some of the flour, water and yeast in the bread recipe. This mixture is then allowed to ferment. Next, the rest of the bread recipe is added to the sponge and mixed together.

Sponge & Dough is popular in North America and is common for white pan bread. The method was popularised by the Americans in South East Asia, which goes some way to explaining why North American wheat remains popular there.

Long (or bulk) fermentation

Also a common method in the USA and South East Asia. The system involves two stage fermentation: dough is fermented first, re-moulded to knock out developed gas and then proofed (second stage fermentation). The fermentation time depends on preferences and varies greatly in different parts of the world.

No Time Dough

This method typically uses only one step fermentation (as opposed to two steps in the long fermentation process). This is a faster process – but again the time of fermentation varies to some degree and can be anywhere from 1-2 hours to 6 or 8. It is the most common method of baking in small to medium enterprises throughout South East Asia, particularly Indonesia.

Mechanical Dough Development (MDD)

This method was developed in UK and is most commonly referred to as the Chorleywood process. This baking system (and/or a slightly modified version of it) is most commonly used in Australia. The process has also spread from UK to many other European countries as well as some parts of African continent and the Middle East. The method is based on the energy (speed and the rate of energy delivered into the bread dough during mixing).